Lyrics

Driving along today with the radio on an oldies station - yes it has happened to me - I heard the song "Daydream Believer" by the Monkees. Since I was the sole occupant of the car I turned up the volume and mimed along. Even when alone I dare not harm the environment by actually singing. Dogs would bay, babies would cry and the core of the universe might crumble so I am doing a good thing by not uttering sounds that could well be mistaken for contact with an alien species.

Anyway back to the song. I have spent forty years wondering why the lyrics are "my shaver's cold and it sings ..." Really, I have asked myself a thousand times (okay a hundred plus) why would the singer have someone to shave him and why would the individual be cold?? Just one of the questions that don't keep me awake I hasten to add. They do, however, puzzle me when I hear the song. Can the writer have had a particular individual in mind when he penned the song? Were these the only words that would fit? And is it not impolite to refer to a person as it? Oh well, the song ends and I drift off to another strand of thought that vanishes just as suddenly.

Today was The Day. I concentrated on the words and almost crashed into the rear of a car at a robot. Oh dear, I chuckled, it isn't "my shaver's cold and it sings". It is "My shaving razor's cold and it stings." Not a line that would make Dylan, Thomas or Bob, jealous. But it made some sort of sense. Barely.

As I drove on I felt disappointed. From now on I will hear the correct lyrics. No more pondering who the lyricist had in mind when he wrote "shaver". And I no longer have to wonder why it sings. Now all is explained.

I love misheard phrases. One of my best is the following:
"Our Father who who is in heaven, Harold be his name ..." (true - a certain nameless much loved individual thought those were the words ...)
Then there is my sister's one from her youth:
"Frère Jacques, frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?"
heard and rendered as
"Frere Jacques, frere Jacques,
Hark and chew, hark and chew .."
A recent one told to me:
"Hold me close, I'm trying to dance here .."
in reality:
"Hold me closer tiny dancer"


And the list goes on. Please leave a comment with your favourites. I promise to add them. Anonymously of course!

The next time I hear lyrics that I puzzle over I shall do as Seal recommended years ago and keep singing the ones I think are correct. I, for one, would like to keep some things as they were in a world where change comes at us regardless of our personal wishes. So if your voice does not threaten the cosmos let's hear it .... "my shaver's cold and it sings ..."